Punlapa Margaret Taylor (born January 20, 1983), also known as Paula Taylor () or Thai name Punlapa Supa-aksorn (; ), is a Thai actress, model, and presenter of British descent.

Personal life

Taylor was born in Chulalongkorn hospital,

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. Two weeks after she was born, the family moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Her mother is of

Thai Chinese Thai Chinese (also known as Chinese Thais, Sino-Thais) are persons of Chinese people, Chinese descent in Thailand. Thai Chinese are the largest mixed group in the country and the largest overseas Chinese community in the world with a popul ...

descent and her father is of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

descent. She grew up in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia and at the age of 9, after her parents' divorce, moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Queensland. Taylor got a bachelor's in Business Administration from Assumption University

Career

While visiting her family in Thailand, she was asked if she would be interested in doing some modelling. She started her career in several commercials and small Thai movies before becoming a regular VJ for

Channel V Thailand Channel Thailand was a Thai music television channel. In August 2008, Channel Thailand moved studio and office from Sukhumvit Road, Sukhumvit 49/12 to Siam Discovery on 6th floor. Channel Thailand ended its exclusive broadcasting ...

. Discovered by television producer Tanawat Wansom, she quickly rose to fame and became a sought-after television hostess and presenter. In 2006, she co-starred in the Thai romance comedy film ''

The Memory The Memory or ''Ruk Jung'' (; ; ) is a 2006 Thai romantic comedy film directed by Haeman Chatemee and starring Paula Taylor. Plot Superstar singer Film is involved in a car accident in the rural, remote mountain forests of northern Thailand. ...

''.

''The Amazing Race Asia 2''

Taylor also participated in ''

The Amazing Race Asia 2 ''The Amazing Race Asia 2'' is the second season of ''The Amazing Race Asia'', an Asian reality competition show based on the American series ''The Amazing Race (American TV series), The Amazing Race''. It featured ten teams of two with a pre-exi ...

'' with her childhood friend Natasha Monks. At the 9th leg they came in last, but it was a non-elimination leg. In Leg 10, however, which was in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, they came last for the second time, leading them to be the 6th eliminated pair. They finished 5th in the race. On the '' Amazing Race Asia 3'', she appeared alongside host

Allan Wu Allan Wu (born June 11, 1972) is a Singapore-based Chinese-American actor, host, VJ (media personality), VJ and model. He is best known for being the host of 3 different editions of the popular reality game show, ''The Amazing Race (franchise) ...

as the local greeter at the Pit Stop of the first leg.

Present

Taylor made her Hollywood debut starring opposite

William Hurt William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. For his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Cannes Film Festival Award for B ...

and

Cary Elwes Ivan Simon Cary Elwes (; born 26 October 1962) is an English actor. He starred as Westley in ''The Princess Bride (film), The Princess Bride'' (1987), and also had lead roles in films such as ''Robin Hood: Men in Tights'' (1993) and the Saw (fr ...

in the 2011 film '' Hellgate''. Due to her exposure in the ''Amazing Race Asia'', her face and name have become familiar in several Southeast Asian countries. In 2009 she landed the starring role in a film starring Filipino comedian

Vic Sotto Marvic Valentin "Vic" Castelo Sotto (born April 28, 1954), popularly known as Bossing, is a Filipino actor, comedian, and television personality. Prolific in film and television in the Philippines since the 1970s, he is known for playing comed ...

in ''Love On Line'' where she plays a version of herself. She was also a guest host on ''

Eat Bulaga! ''Eat !'' (; stylized as ''Eat... Bulaga!'') is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine television variety show broadcast by Radio Philippines Network, ABS-CBN, GMA Network and TV5 (Philippine TV network), TV5. Originally hosted by Tito S ...

'' in which Sotto is a regular. She appears on the Philippine TV Sunday variety show ''

SOP A sop is a piece of bread or toast that is drenched in liquid and then eaten. In medieval cuisine, sops were very common; they were served with broth, soup, or wine and then picked apart into smaller pieces to soak in the liquid. At elaborate ...

''. She currently resides in Hong Kong and London and is focusing on raising her children, but she still travels around Asia for commercials and television guest appearances. After divorcing her husband, she brought her three children back to live in Thailand and took on acting work again in 10 years, starring the role of Stella, a Thai American single mom, in '' Taklee Genesis'', the first Thai-

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

joint venture

sci-fi film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...

, directed by

Chookiat Sakveerakul Chookiat Sakveerakul (, ), born 1981 in Chiang Mai, Thailand) is a Thai film director and screenwriter. He is also credited as Ma-Deaw Chukiatsakwirakul or Matthew Chukiat Sakwirakul. Chookiat's first feature-length film was an ensemble drama, '' ...

Filmography

Movies

Television

Music videos

* "Yah Lop Tah" by JR-Voy * "Sexy" by Paradox * "Tell Me Your Name" by

Christian Bautista Christian Joseph Morata Bautista (born October 19, 1981) is a Filipino singer, host, and model. He was a finalist of '' Star in a Million'', a Philippine reality show aired on ABS-CBN channel, winning 4th place in the competition in 2003. Af ...

* ''Maak Maai'' by ''Bie The Star''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Paula 1983 births

Paula Taylor Punlapa Margaret Taylor (born January 20, 1983), also known as Paula Taylor () or Thai name Punlapa Supa-aksorn (; ), is a Thai actress, model, and presenter of British descent. Personal life Taylor was born in Chulalongkorn hospital, Bangkok ...

Living people

The Amazing Race contestants